


To/From The New World

by traveler_spawn



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 21:46:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20767430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traveler_spawn/pseuds/traveler_spawn
Summary: The beginning steps of the Last City’s newest guardians, a Warlock and the Hunter that soon comes after her…





	1. To

“This…is mine?” 

“Yes.” Ikora answered. Her newest student stood stock still in the living/dining room, eyes wide. What very few possessions Selene owned–which consisted only of her battered gun, the armor her Ghost had created for her, and a bag of Glimmer–were clutched closely to the kinderGuardian’s chest. A dazed look of awe was on her face.

“Every Guardian has their own set of rooms.” Ikora watched as Selene wandered into the kitchen. “This ward is dedicated to fledgling Guardians such as yourself. Once you have completed a full year’s worth of duties, you will be relocated to the main dormitories.” She watched as Selene emerged from the kitchen, coming to a stop several feet away.

“And…you are to be my teacher?”

“Yes.” Ikora had made her decision several hours after Selene’s arrival to the City. It had been a while since one of the newly Risen had displayed the aptitude of the Traveler’s warrior-scholars. And while the Warlock Vanguard could have easily given the duty to one of the senior Guardians under her, she had missed teaching–the joy of guiding a student in the ways of the Light, to nurture a newly-Risen mind. She saw nerves flick over the baby Guardian’s face, and the worried twitches of her Ghost. Doubtless she’d already heard stories.

“I don’t bite.” Her attempt at an icebreaker, but Ikora watched as Selene’s eyes widened and she clutched her bundle even tighter. “Well, I bite the enemies of the Light, but not students.”

“I…I see.”

_…That could have gone better._ Ikora cleared her throat.

“Why don’t you put your things away in the bedroom, and then I’ll give you a basic explanation of your new privileges.” She said. 

*****************

“You do have a curfew during your days off. You’re expected back in your rooms by ten on weekdays, midnight on the weekends and holidays.” Ikora deftly sorted the Glimmer Selene had set on the table into the respective denominations that were commonly used in the City. “If you wish to go into the City, you have to have a senior Guardian escort you.” Selene nodded. 

“May I ask how long…for? The escort?” She asked, lacing her fingers together.

“The normal period is six months, but if you’ve adjusted well, it will be three.” Ikora gestured to the Glimmer piles. “These are the basic denominations for Glimmer. If needed you can break them down even smaller to fit your needs.” Selene nodded, her eyes flicking to the table. 

“Ozy…said he could make sure I wouldn’t get cheated.” She said softly. Ikora gave her a gentle smile.

“Do you know where you got that name from?” She asked. Selene shook her head. “It is from a very old poem that predates the Traveler.” Rewarded with the novice’s Warlock’s eyes widening, Ikora leaned back in her chair. 

“I noticed as well you enjoy reading.” Selene flushed, looking down at her fingers.

“I…like books.” She mumbled.

“Sit up straight. Don’t slouch.” Ikora watched as Selene immediately obeyed. “And that is good. You will be reading a great deal.” She caught the gleam in the other woman’s eyes, and suppressed a smile. “You will have full access to the Tower’s Library, as well as the City’s. But you will not be reading just for the sake of studying, I expect you to fully remember everything that you read.” Pretending to ignore the surprised squeak that came from Selene, Ikora continued.

“Knowledge is power, and combined with the Light, it becomes a powerful weapon. You will be a voice of reason and logic, and you must conduct yourself as such.” 


	2. From

If he looked at the big picture, Cayde couldn’t fault his fellow Exo for the freakout. Newly-Raised for a month, spent said month fighting his way down the eastern coast of the United States from just outside the Manhattan Nuclear Zone towards the City-beacon. Fallen had caught up to both the Exo and his Ghost, and they would have been dead had it not been for the picture-perfect arrival of a City fireteam. Last thing the new…ish Exo had seen before getting knocked offline had been the Fallen surrounding him and his Ghost. So in that regard…waking up in a strange room, with no Ghost about… Cayde would have started attacking people too.

But.

“No. Bad!” To emphasize his point, Cayde tapped the Exo on the head with the Ace of Spades with every word he said. 

“Bad kinderGuardian! No! We do not start the violence this early!” He scolded. “I’m all for kicking a little ass, taking names, but no! Not in the infirmary!” He was sitting on the Exo’s chest, the other android sprawled out on the floor from where Cayde had chokeslammed him down.

“The violence stays outside!” Violet optics stared up at him. “Though I must say, damn! I highly approve of your moves! Now you probably set yourself back a bit with this stunt, but I’ll speak with Zavala and Ikora. We need to get you out in the wild–”

“Maatthyyeeee!” A Ghost barreled over. “Mathye! I’m sorry! They wanted to give me a new shell, I should have waited–” It dropped down to nuzzle the new Exo on a cheek, and Cayde watched as relief flashed over the android’s features.

“See? Your little lady’s safe and sound.” Judging that there would be no more mayhem, Cayde rose. The other Exo pushed himself up, Ghost resting on his head. 

“I…I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. This sort of thing is normal.” Cayde waved a hand. “Now why don’t you just mosey back on over to that table, sit down, and let the good docs finish checking you out. And just to keep the peace, they’ll show you how to change your Ghost’s shell.” He sauntered over to another diagnostic bed. “I’ll just stay in here for a bit. Just in case of chaos.” As the new Hunter slowly rose, Cayde spun about to face the two-way glass installed on the opposite wall. A maniacal grin crossed his face, and he held up both hands in a thumbs up.

Even from where he was standing, he could **_feel_** Zavala’s disapproval.


	3. To

The main railing of The Tower was ablaze with activity. The alert had been sounded several minutes ago–a new Risen was incoming. It had been a while since such an announcement had been made, but the procedures still went into place like clockwork. The Speaker had been alerted, as had been the Vanguard and the rest of the Consenus. Other Guardians who had heard the announcement found reasons to mill about the Tower Plaza, hoping to spot the newest arrival to their ranks. Bets were placed on how the Light had either manifested/would manifest–Hunters and Titans had been the monopoly when there had been new arrivals some time past. A few others were betting on either if the new Guardian was a boy/girl/non gender, and what race they’d be.

——-

Ikora turned out to be the Vanguard present when the battered Arcadia jumpship made a pass over the Plaza, heading for the Hanger. There were shouts–and then another flurry of activity, somebody had transmitted down. Cursing herself for being partially distracted–she’d been listening to Cayde make wagers over the comm– Ikora headed towards the infirmary. A deft twist of Light brought conversations to her as she made her way across the Plaza.

_“I win that one! Human female, called it!”  
_

_“Wait no, we don’t have final confirmation! You know the rules, the medics have the final say, and even then that’s a few days or longer!”_

_“She looks…wait. Can I say she looks Warlock-ish? Can I say that?”  
_

_“I don’t know–she’s got the same build as Arys-and she’s one hell of a Striker–”_

_“How the hell did she get her hands on a ship?! Fuck me, I wish I’d had that kind of luck!”  
_

_“Robert in the hanger says she came from the Cosmodrone, he got a look at the flight logs-”  
_

_“How big is the pool for her class again?” _ Shaking her head with a rueful grin, Ikora dismissed the spell and continued on her way.

——-

“Alright, you just come on over here.” The Ghost was friendly, shell a soft green. A little nurse’s cap was perched jauntily on one fin. With a nervous look at Ozy, Selene followed. “You need to go through decontamination, just to make sure you’re not carrying any diseases or irradiated. Especially if you came from the Cosmodrone.”

“Wh-why?” Selene swallowed, her voice was quivering.

“Old Russia’s off limits because of all the radiation. The way things are going, the Vanguard expects the Cosmodrone to get affected to at some point and then it’s all going to get sealed off.” The Ghost stopped at a door. “Now you go inside that room and take off your clothes–and step onto the pad.” Selene’s eyes widened, and she shot a look at Ozy.

“He-he can’t come with me?” Tears threatened, and her Ghost was quick to dart next to her cheek.

“I’ll come with you! Don’t worry.” He shot a look at the nurse-Ghost. “They can adjust the scanners to include me.” 

“Of course.” The medic-Ghost had seen this all before–if it kept the kinderGuardian calm to have their Ghost next to them, it was no problem to modify the tests. “Now into the room. All your clothes go into the yellow bin. Ghost-ah, were you–”

“Ozymandias. Ozy for short.” Ozy declared proudly.


	4. From

There was no better teacher of Hunters than the wild itself. And for the Tower’s newest kinderGuardian, it was the hellscape that was Old Russia in winter that was his proving ground. Unable to devote as much time as he wanted to teach his newest charge, Cayde had entrusted Shiro with Mathye’s training whenever the Hunter Vanguard couldn’t put off his Tower duties any longer. 

Shiro had immediately relocated the kinderGuardian to the Iron Temple, where Mathye’s education began in earnest. The Exo had taken to his lessons fairly quickly, to the point where Shiro felt comfortable allowing the younger Guardian patrol-duty some miles away from Vostok. Once he’d mastered those–and the hardest month of the year for winter-January, Shiro judged that Mathye could be allowed to venture into space–and the challenges that awaited there.

——

It was rare that weather could stop the newest Iron Lords–any Guardian in their tracks, but not unheard of. Both the City and the Temple were being besieged by icestorms in both their respective locations, causing all work to grind to a halt. Even the Fallen dared not risk the killer weather, and the more wanderlust Hunters sought any shelter they could find. At the Temple, all had been evacuated inside the mountain and the doors firmly bolted. There was more than enough room for everyone to stretch out and entertain themselves–within reason. Saladin had strictly forbidden the use of major weaponry and Light spells. If the storm lasted longer than two days, cabin fever would set in and the last thing needed was a bunch of trigger/Light happy Guardians.

  
Nightfall found Saladin making rounds in the Temple. Everything was peaceful–the newest Iron Lords–Selene among them, had claimed one of the main living spaces for entertainment. Tyra was telling stories in one corner, while battered board games and cards had made appearances among other groups. When Saladin had peered inside, a rather noisy game of strip poker was underway between two fireteams, with a hefty pile of glimmer in the middle of the ring. Selene and a group of Warlocks were pouring over tomes from Felwinter’s library. Every so often the Guardian would stroke the head of one of the wolves that had joined the group, scratching behind an ear.

“I just got a call from the City.” Saladin turned his head as Shiro strode over. “They’re getting hit harder than us, they may not see daylight for a week!” 

“Can’t be helped.” Saladin looked back at the room. Now he spotted a black-metal form, clad in kinderGuardian uniform–the plain, unmarked, uncolored armor that denoted a Guardian in training. The fledgling Hunter was paying close attention to the explanation of another card game, his Ghost floating alongside him. 

“How is the pup doing?” Shiro’s optics tracked Saladin’s gaze–ah, there was Mathye. 

“He’s doing well. Has promise to be an excellent scout and tracker. Right now we’re working on the patience factor.” He said, crossing his arms. “The older Guardians with their missions off planet and on–he’s seeing that, wants to be a part of it. But he’s not ready for that.” Saladin chuckled.

“You have to let him go sometime.” 

“Not just yet.” Shiro replied. “Patience, and the finer points of our class. And I want him to be able to survive on his own out here. He does that, then I can turn him back over to Cayde and the City.”

  * 


	5. To

With practiced experience, the orderlies set down the sleeping woman on the bio-bed. Nearby two Ghosts set down their own burden–a recharging Ozy on a nearby platform. 

“Ready when you are!” One called. On the other side of a window, a medic nodded. As the quartet departed, he started to key in commands on a console.

“We detected no radiation on her.” He said. “However after the initial decontamination, she collapsed.”

“What happened?” Zavala asked.

“Low blood sugar. She hadn’t had any food from the time of her resurrection. When she tapped into her Light–” Here the medic nodded at Ikora. “It gave her enough energy to keep going. But she was going to crash at some point. Lucky for her she did it here.”

“All it means is that we just hold off on the official class testing for a day or so.” Ikora said. 

‘I think it’s safe to say that for this one, it’s not required.” Zavala rumbled. He gave Ikora a smile. “She’s one of yours.” Ikora smiled back, and Zavala turned his attention back to the window.

“I see what you meant by her Light.” He mused, walking toward the glass. “It is bright.” Zavala could sense–almost see it, pulsing under the new Risen’s skin. Training–how to control her gift, and the creation of wards for her body and mind’s safety–would dampen the aura she gave off. But until then…

“Beginning scans now.” Underneath Selene’s body, the biobed started to glow a soft white. Above her, a hologram shimmered into view–the image of a skeleton forming. Underneath Ozy, the platform was starting to glow as well.

“Her Ghost reported that he resurrected her two times.” Ikora said. 

“One of these days,you will tell me that we have a kinderGuardian who made it here in one pure piece.” The medic commented. 

“It’s not like you can’t find out anything anyway.” The door closed behind Cayde-6, who had just entered the room. “Have I missed anything good? Did she show any Hunter abilities?”

“She’s one of mine, Cayde.” Ikora remarked. “You can live without adding another Hunter to your ranks.” She turned her attention back to the window as the medic cleared his throat.

“Pelvis indicates no sign of childbearing.” He began. “Bone structure indicates aging had stopped, so that gives her a general age range from late 20′s to her first century.” Cayde walked towards the window. He stopped, bending over to squint at the sleeping woman.

“She looks a bit on the skinny side. A little too skinny.” He commented.

“Nothing that three square meals a day for a while won’t fix.” The medic replied. “Nervous system looks good, picking up on Guardian/Ghost neural net patterning. We’ll scan that the day after tomorrow.” His eyes flicked over to another monitor, where Ozy’s internals were being displayed. ‘Ghost looks good as well. Could probably do with a new shell and maintenance.”

“Have you started to search her in the medical database?” Zavala turned halfway from the window.

“We actually got a hit from her blood.” The medic keyed in a command, nodding at a tablet. Ikora picked it up, walking over to Zavala and Cayde. “She has a variant of the CCR5 gene, CCR5-CCKR.” Noticing the blank looks the Hunter and Titan Vanguard were giving him, the medic quickly amended himself.

“She has the gene that gives her immunity to the Purple Strangler.” He said. “She wasn’t one of the named carriers, but based on the mutation we can confirm that she was born during the Dark Ages.” 

“And where did her Ghost say he found her?” Cayde asked.

“Outside of the Cosmodrone.” Ikora murmured. Her mind was already starting to piece two and two together. She glanced at Zavala, who nodded.

“A refugee.” He said, voice soft. “Trying to make it here.”

“More than likely killed by a Fallen or a Warlord.” Cayde finished. He looked back at the glass. “Maybe better late than never, in this case?” 

“…City Law requires that we need to take a sample of her blood.” The Vanguard fireteam looked at the medic. “For vaccine purposes. Do we have permission?”

“Has anything else come up in the search?” Ikora asked. 

“Just the mutation. Being a Dark Ages…well, a former Dark Age human, the chances of finding any type of records–” The medic trailed off. “You all would know. Slim to none.” Zavala glanced at Ikora.

“I’ll let you decide.” He said. “She is one of yours. No matter how much Cayde is wishing otherwise.”

“Okay really? You have to rub it in like that?”

“You have my permission.” Ikora said quickly. “After that, seal and ward the records.” The medic nodded. 

“There’s technically not much left.” He said, looking back at his console. “We have the usual results–her eggs have been completely destroyed, so she’s infertile. She has the normal manipulated genes for someone who’s descended from Golden Age ancestry. Given how she dropped after the decontamination, she at least needs more rest before we deep scan to see how the neural net with her Ghost is forming.”

“What about the extent of her memory loss?” Zavala asked.

“Something we’ll also start testing tomorrow.” The medic leaned back as the scans concluded. “But based on how she made it here, I’d probably rank her as mid to top tier. She didn’t require any help with basic adult functions-using the bathroom, eating, communicating…” He gestured. “For all intents and purposes, you have a new, healthy kinderGuardian.”


End file.
